Writing Blurbs
1. My Secret
I know I should never tell anyone about this, but sometimes, when I have to write a blurb, I go to Barnes and Noble, and I read the backs of all types of books. Books by and for pet lovers, poets, star-gazers, magicians, trapeze artists, sexual athletes, businessmen. I mean to say, I read the backs of everything. Then I copy the best blurbs onto note cards, one sentence fragment at a time. At home I cut these blurbs up so they’re just fragments of fragments. Then I cut them into fragments of fragments of fragments. I place them in a shoe box (I call this my fishpond), and I shake the box. I shake it three times for good luck. I take out the cards and arrange them on my page.
In this way I have composed many nice blurbs.
2.
I hate writing. It's true. I think, sadly, that nice things are boring to say, and to say them nicely is even more boring. And to be believable? (Well, best not to worry about that. Best to say incomprehensible praises, in Latin, say, or maybe ancient Greek.)
from the archive; first posted July 18, 2008
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